Flexibility

I think I’ve finally figured it out.  Well, at least partially figured it out, but that’s better than not having it figured out at all, right?  Anyways, I was trying to figure out, yet again, why it is that I miss college so much and why it is that I have such a hard time easing into the real world, even after being at it for over a year and a half, and it just came to me as I was reading one of my friend’s away messages that read simply “Nap”.

Scheduling.  The real world scheduling of everyone’s lives just isn’t conducive to what I want.  Working the 7 – 4 work day and then having the rest of the day to yourself isn’t what I like.  I loved college for the unrestrictive schedule that it offered.  Want a morning off to just chill out?  Done, as long as you don’t have class or work study, which I’m assuming I wouldn’t if I wanted to stay in.  Anyways, yeah.

If I wanted to work from 9 at night until 1 in the morning to get a project done so that I could have the afternoon off the next day, I could do that.  If I wanted to write a paper on Sunday instead of doing it on a Tuesday so that I could go out for a disc golfing afternoon, I could.  

Now, all of those options are gone.  Sure, I have flexible hours and I’ve taken some days off and made them up on weekends or taken half days and worked later on in the evening, but it’s not just me that needs to be able to do that—it needs to be everyone that has that flexibility.  What’s the point of having it if everyone else is still constrained by the workday schedule grind?

If I want to go for a bike ride with someone right now, at 2:00 in the afternoon, it won’t happen 95% of the time because even if I could go, no doubt the other person couldn’t just up and leave work.  I hate being relegated to nighttime hours to being able to do things.  Often by that time of the day I don’t really feel like organizing people and getting them together and whatnot to go do something.  Complicating this one hundred fold is that most of the people I know have wives and/or kids that get most of their time.

So I often end up fending for myself or using my work day to socialize with the people at work and then actually doing work later on in the evening.  Heck, I end up working a lot from Panera Bread just so that have people around to keep me from feeling lonely like I often do sitting in the basement of my  place all by myself.

Let’s all just work when we want, from wherever we want, and have fun at the drop of a hat.  That’s how it was in college, so why can’t it be that way now?  As long as you get what you need to do at work done on time, what’s the point of sticking to a regimented schedule?  I don’t think there is.  Someone needs to lead this revolution.  Down with the 8-5 workday!  I freaking hate it.